If there’s one thing that’ll raise the hackles of the San Diego City Council, it’s being kept in the dark. On Monday, a rift over the soaring costs to prep the former headquarters of Sempra Energy for hundreds of city employees made this fact abundantly clear.

Kris Michell, a City Hall veteran and Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s handpicked chief operating officer since January, came before the City Council on Monday full of contrition for a process that has thrown doubt into the wisdom of purchasing the tower at 101 Ash St. to help the city reduce its dependence on expensive, leased downtown office space.

Once believed to be a building that was essentially employee-ready, the City Council now finds itself wrestling with rising refurbishment costs—from an originally estimated $5 million in 2016 now to more than $18 million—and the trustworthiness of the information it receives.

Michell quickly attempted to address the latter.

“I would like to first acknowledge and apologize to all of you for the lack of communication regarding this project,” she told the council. “There certainly can be many excuses provided, but at the end of the day, we’re all professionals and we have to own the fact that we did not keep you informed. And that will stop.”

While some councilmembers seemed to accept Michell’s apology, two councilmembers from opposite sides of the political spectrum both used the term “cornered” to describe how they were feeling.

“It wasn’t that the council wasn’t consulted, or communicated to, or anything,” Councilmember David Alvarez said. “It was decisions that were made that are changing the outcome of this. That is where the problem lies, and that is where I hope you think back in the decision making that puts the council now in a position where we are cornered. There is nothing else to do at this point.”

Alvarez, a Democrat, has suggested chucking the deal entirely, but he seems alone—at least publicly—in that sentiment. But he noted that another decision to be made that day—to raise the city fees charged for building permits at a time when new housing stock is at historic lows—was partially influenced by the problems incurred with 101 Ash.

“Raising the costs to build things in the city because we have to now pay for this thing? That is a big problem,” he added.

Republican Councilmember Scott Sherman, who joined Alvarez in voting against both the fee hikes and the path forward on 101 Ash, said he was most disturbed by the “lack of professional courtesy.”

“That is where we are, and now we’re painted into a corner,” he said. “Yes, OK, it’s a good deal. Not nearly as good as it was, but still a good deal.”

As first reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune in April, city taxpayers have been on the hook to the tune of nearly $18,000 a day since January 2017, when city honchos signed a 20-year, lease-to-own contract to acquire the former Sempra headquarters. Told then that a simple power-washing of the building was needed before move in, the building remains vacant today with only hints of a future occupancy timeline.

As the headaches increase, the sales pitch that this would save the city millions by eliminating the need for leased space has steadily dwindled, although even critics of the stumbles still remain hopeful the deal will be a good one for the city.

In the meantime, the city has had to ink less-than-ideal short-term leases in other downtown buildings to house hundreds of city employees.

One city official who offered no apologies despite behind-the-scenes angst about her abilities was Cybele Thompson, head of the city’s Real Estate Assets Department. Kris Michell deferred to Thompson when pressed on why the city had so badly low-balled the needed tenant improvements.

“It’s true that we don’t do that kind of thing internally,” Thompson said, adding that a “third party” was brought in to “provide us with the estimates.” She said space planning for the building had not been completed by the time the issue came to the council.

Added Michell: “I can tell you on a go-forward basis, sometimes to scope out some of the tenant improvements, it’s not a core business of ours, as has become very, very obvious.”

Councilmember Chris Ward, who also criticized the lack of estimates to deal with ADA issues and asbestos but voted to move forward with building plans, told Spin later that day that he fears a pattern has emerged with Thompson’s department.

He said a similar problem emerged at a city vehicle maintenance facility on Othello Avenue in Kearny Mesa, which the city leased for $10.4 million in 2017. The original cost of $6.5 million to upgrade the building to suit the upkeep of large vehicles will now likely be higher because “they determined they would not be able to get our new large vehicles in the front door of the facility.”

Thompson hinted that she would have “good news” in July about that fuck-up, but Ward said he had no idea what that would entail. His understanding is “the entire façade needs to be redone,” he said. “How did you not know the specs? Long and the short, how are we getting so many big-ticket things wrong, before they’re approved? And then it costs more to fix it after the fact.”

Asked if Thompson should be replaced, Ward said, “I don’t know. I don’t supervise her. I’m disappointed. It’s up to her supervisors, like Kris Michell, to figure out whether that’s a call that needs to be made. But something’s not working in that area.”

During the council meeting, Sherman alluded to some commitments that he said Michell had made to him, although it wasn’t clear if he was talking about firing Thompson. His spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.